Reciprocating internal combustion engines, e.g. Otto and Diesel cycle engines are a major factor in just about every aspect of life here and abroad. Reciprocating internal combustion engines facilitate our way of life by providing us with transportation, consumer products, safety, medical assistance, and power generation to name only a few. However, reciprocating internal combustion engines suffer from disadvantages, many of which would no longer be acceptable if there were an alternative to the use of these engines. They require fossil fuel, and suffer from many inefficiencies that cause them to generate heat, noise, vibration and toxic by-products; all of which we tolerate only because we have no economically suitable alternatives. With the decline in the supply of fossil fuels and the increase in harmful atmospheric gasses, governments have a renewed interest in finding alternatives to internal combustion.
For example, some of the energy wasting features of internal combustion engines include friction, inefficient combustion, heat loss from the combustion chamber, aerodynamic drag of air moving through the engine, energy used by ancillary equipment like oil and water pumps, and imperfect valve timing. Another issue that affects the efficiency of these engines is that they must be designed to reduce emissions requiring compromises in design. As a result, the average engine is about 35% efficient and must be kept idling at stoplights, wasting an additional 17% of the energy, resulting in an overall efficiency of about 18%. This means that about 82% of the energy we put into our vehicles in the form of fossil fuels is wasted exiting the engine in the form of non-useful byproducts.
Attempts at eliminating the need for fossil fuels in reciprocating engines has been attempted for decades. Various types of alternative fuels and engine configurations have been suggested, some with more success than others, but overall most have met with very limited success. One such alternative is bio fuels. Bio fuels may be derived from plant materials such as corn or sugar cane. However, these fuels require agricultural land, tractors for planting and harvesting, and distilleries for converting the biomass into fuel. Bio fuels derived from algae, trash, or agricultural waste or other sources could help because they do not require agricultural land use but always seem to be several years away from large scale commercial development. Even if these fuels were developed on a scale suitable for use, there is no suitable system for distributing the fuel to the general public. The distribution system would require several more years for development. Therefore, most scientists agree that if we really want to develop biomass into energy, we should turn it into electricity and not automotive fuel.
Another category of alternative designs relies on electricity and/or magnets to cause reciprocation of or movement of a piston(s). For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,296,554 issued to A. K. Hinchman. Hinchman's invention relates to a self-timing piston electric engine setting forth a cylinder which includes primary and secondary electromagnetic coils acting upon the piston to cause it to reciprocate. The coils are energized at proper periods by relay timers controlled or actuated by the movements of the piston.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,367 issued to Ramirez discloses a permanent magnet and electromagnet actuated mechanical unit that may be secured to an engine block assembly to actuate at least one piston, connecting rod and driveshaft that forms a part of the assembly to obtain rotary power.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,058 issued to Blalock, discloses an electromagnetic reciprocating engine. The electromagnetic engine replaces the cylinders with non-ferromagnetic material and the pistons are replaced with permanent magnets. The cylinder heads are replaced with electromagnets.
A shortcoming associated with all of the known prior art relates to the operation of the electromagnets. To make an engine suitable for use in applications such as an automobile requires fairly large electromagnets. Large electromagnets require a supply of high amperage and/or voltage electricity which must be rapidly turned on and off to simulate the firing of pistons in a reciprocating engine. This causes several problems, such as arcing between the contacts, and results in pre-mature failure. In addition, electromagnets operating at high current loads for extended periods of time generate a considerable amount of heat. The increase in heat significantly reduces efficiency and often results in failure of the electromagnetic coil. In addition, the magnetic fields generated by the electromagnets often cause problems such as cascading avalanche breakdown, induced EMF, spikes and voltage clips in other engine systems, such as the timing system.
Thus what is needed in the art is a magnetically operated reciprocating engine having a control system that addresses the problems associated with the prior art. The magnetically operated engine should be reliable and economical to produce. The magnetically operated engine should be constructed and arranged to operate from battery power. The magnetically operated engine should include a control system that provides extended run times by controlling the power supplied to the electromagnets in a fashion that controls heat generation for reliable coil life and efficient operation. The system utilized to control the operation of the electromagnets should also be capable of controlling engine speed and/or torque outputs. The control system should reduce or eliminate the problems often associated with large magnetic fields without compromising performance of the engine.